


Unrequited

by jewelianna88



Category: Popslash
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-23
Updated: 2011-04-23
Packaged: 2017-10-18 13:49:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jewelianna88/pseuds/jewelianna88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JC has been cursed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unrequited

Careful. Careful. JC breathed as shallowly as possible and shifted his abdominal muscles to counteract the sway of the bus. The soda can was ¾ full and precariously balanced on his stomach. He slowly lowered his hand and let the can stand there on its own. The TV was blaring Letterman in the background, and he wished someone would switch it to Leno. The remote was just out of reach on the floor.

The can rocked dangerously when the bus hit a pothole, but JC managed to shift up and keep it from tipping. He smiled, ridiculously proud of his success.

It was very obvious to him, in that moment, that he’d spent too much of his life on a tour bus.

Deciding to see how long the can would stay balanced there, he laid his head back and stared at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and thought about sleeping in a real bed again that night. They were supposed to arrive in Houston in a couple of hours.

He was rudely pulled out of his reverie when a shoe hit him on the shoulder. He recoiled, and the can spilled all over his shirt.

“Damn it!” JC leapt up, annoyed that he was now wet and sticky and no longer on the way to Zen. He grabbed the can and tossed it in the sink, ducking out of the way as another shoe sailed out from behind the curtain to the bunk area. “What the fuck?”

He pulled off his shirt as he pushed the door to the back, only to find Justin rifling through Chris’s bunk, pulling out sneakers and tossing them over his shoulder.

“What the fuck are you doing?” JC asked, reaching into his own bunk for a towel. He knew the clean ones had been left on their beds that morning.

Justin knelt on the floor muttering something about foul odors and infestations. “Fucking rank footwear where I’m supposed to be sleeping.” He pulled another set of shoes out and threw them into the front. He did not, however, answer JC, who didn’t really know what to do except watch the flying shoe spectacle.

It was Chris coming out of the bathroom that finally ended the throwing. He tacked Justin when he realized that his footwear was being tossed about and wrestled him to the ground. JC slid back into the front, still shirtless, and started dropping paper towels on the growing wet spot. He’d gotten used to the oddity that was Justin and Chris.

When he was almost done cleaning up the mess, Chris stormed out to the front and began gathering up his shoes. He lined them up neatly against the bench, then sat and pouted. It was pretty ridiculous to see a man nearly 30 years old pouting, JC thought.

“Do I want to know?” JC ventured carefully.

“Fucking Timberlake and his oversensitive nose. My shoes do not smell.”

JC wrinkled his own nose, because, well. “They kind of do.”

Chris snorted. “Of course they do. Everyone’s shoes smell. Justin’s gone on national television saying that his feet stink. I don’t know what the fuck his problem is.”

“More Britney crap in the tabloids.” JC had been standing nearby when the PR guys had shown Justin the rags that morning. “He’s just on edge.”

Chris shook his head. “Thank God for the hotel,” was all he could say, and, still sticky from the spilt soda, JC couldn’t agree more. Between Justin’s mood swings and Chris’s immaturity, he wondered how he’d survive the rest of the tour.

**

The fans had beaten them to the hotel, with crowds easily 10 deep by the time the security team had gotten to the bus. JC hated to disappoint the people who had clearly been waiting, but it was three in the morning, and where were these girls’ parents?

Ducking his head, JC tried to push through the crowd as quickly as possible. Someone latched on to his arm and, ow, he thought. Fingernails.

“JC, I love you!” The girl had long dark hair and sparkles around her eyes. He smiled sleepily at her, but tried to ease away. She wouldn’t let go, and JC looked back for one of the guards. They were busy trying to keep Justin moving, leaving JC to get himself free.

“I love you,” she said again, almost crying, still clinging to his arm. He took her wrist in his other hand and slowly pulled free.

“Don’t leave me,” she gasped desperation clear in her face. The crowd was pushing her toward him, leaving only a low metal barrier between them.

“I gotta go,” he said, just wanting to be away from the noise.

The girl’s face turned mean when he stepped back. “How can you turn away from me? I love you!”

JC tried not to say the many platitudes that came to mind about how a 16-year-old girl didn’t know anything about love. Instead, he only gave her smile and a “thanks for coming out.”

He watched as her eyes narrowed, and a drop of fear rolled through his stomach. “You’ll be sorry. Someday you’re going to fall in love with someone, just look into their eyes and know you’re meant to be together. You’re gonna fall in love and you’ll see how it feels to be brushed off like this.” She muttered something that he couldn’t understand, but didn’t stick around to find out what it was.

The whole exchange had taken less than a minute, ending when JC was pushed by the shoulders into the hotel. He glanced down at his arms and noticed the long claw marks there, covered in glitter. The elevator was being held, so he climbed in, taking the key that was handed to him while still examining his arm. He wondered if he needed to get a tetanus shot. Or anything else- could you get infections from nail scratches?

The elevator dinged that they’d arrived on their floor, and JC headed down to his room, just anxious for bed. The whole day had just been weird.

He stripped off his clothes and headed straight for the shower. The bathroom filled with steam, and JC glanced in the mirror, studying the dark circles under his eyes. A few more weeks of this schedule and he was going to be a zombie.

There was a knock on the door, and JC froze, naked. He grabbed a towel and cautiously walked out. He had no idea what he was going to do if that girl had gotten up to his room.

“C?” Chris’s voice called out, and JC breathed a sigh of relief. He checked the peep-hole anyway, just to make sure. He could see the top of Chris’s spiky head.

Cracking the door, Chris held out his backpack. “They mixed up the luggage again. Here.”

“Thanks.” JC grabbed his bag and tossed it back into the room. Chris watched him for a second before looking up and smiling.

JC caught the glaze and realized he was standing there in a towel. Embarrassed, he took hold of the door and started to ease it closed. “So, ah. Thanks for coming. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yeah, don’t be bedbug food and all that,” Chris said, raising a hand in a wave as he walked away. JC watched him for a second before closing the door.

Heading back to the shower, JC’s stomach did a little flip. His arms were burning where the girl had scratched him, and he seriously hoped he was not diseased because of it.

It was so nice of Chris to bring his bag by, he thought, climbing under the hot water. He’d have to remember to thank him for that tomorrow.

**

There was no morning the next day. JC didn’t wake up until noon, when his cell was ringing incessantly on the night table. Slapping at it, he blurrily recognized Joey’s name on the screen and ignored the call. Daylight shone behind the curtains, and he felt like he could sleep another twelve hours and still not feel fully awake.

He fumbled for clothes, finding a shirt that wasn’t too wrinkled, and slapped some leather bracelets around his wrists. His hair was a mess, so he grabbed a hat from his bag on the way out the door. Two nights in this hotel, so no packing up before heading to the venue this time, he thought with joy. JC tucked the key card in his pants, knowing he’d lose it somewhere along the line and have to beg Johnny for another one that night.

Chris was waiting by the elevator, playing with the weird beard extensions he kept growing. They must have reached the right length, because they actually looked sort of hot.

“Hey,” he said, taking in JC’s slightly rumbled shirt and ball cap. “Nice look.”

“I think I need to send out some laundry.” JC scratched his shoulder and watched Chris’s back as he walked into the elevator and pushed the button to go down to the restaurant. “What time do we have to leave?”

“Bus pulls out in about an hour. Lance and Joe are meeting us there- they did the radio thing today.”

“Right.” JC was more thankful than ever that he hadn’t answered the phone- Joey thought it was funny to put him on the air when he was only semi-conscious. “Where’s J?”

“Probably off burning my shoes or some shit.”

It took JC a minute to realize what Chris was talking about. “Oh. Yeah, he’s a little off these days.” There was a hard edge there, like Britney had chipped off the soft rounded parts of Justin, leaving only the pieces that could poke and hurt.

It was weird, them all being single at the same time. Well, except for Joey, but Kelly was such a fixture that she didn’t really count, not the same way come-and-go girls did. Justin wasn’t handling his breakup well. To the media he was fine: growing up, spreading his wings. To the guys he was hurting, and not really knowing how to deal.

And Chris. JC couldn’t figure out why Chris wasn’t dating someone. He was good looking, and the most down-to-earth of any of them. He didn’t buy into the celebrity hype the way Lance did, and he always remembered to call when he said he would, unlike JC. Chris was by far the best boyfriend material in the group, and he was the one who always had his heart broken.

They sat in at a table in the corner and ordered huge sandwiches. JC listened to Chris talk about some big hockey transaction that he’d been tracing on ESPN.com for days, pretending to know what he was talking about. It didn’t really matter that JC didn’t know what a blue line or a hat trick was. Chris just has this way of keeping the conversation going.

“C…?”

Caught daydreaming, JC felt his cheeks flush. “Oh, ah. Sorry, man. Just thinking about, you know.”

“I do?” Chris stared expectantly, and JC sank further into his chair.

“Shoes.” It was the first thing that popped into his head, Justin and his maniacal shoe toss. “There are these shoes, and I think I might get them.”

“Right, okay.” Chris looked at him blankly for a minute, and then nodded. “No heels. I’m not going to be seen with you in public if you get anything with a heel.”

JC started to explain the difference between a heel and a platform, but caught Chris’s look and wisely kept his mouth shut. Chris only owned one pair of shoes that weren’t sneakers, so he wouldn’t understand.

It was okay, though, JC thought. Chris looked good in sneakers, and he had a lot of them. Sure, they smelled a little, but it wasn’t as bad as Justin made it out to seem, and he wasn’t afraid to get them dirty like Justin, which JC appreciated.

Chris was talking again, more about hockey contracts and agents’ dealings, and JC zoned out. Why was he thinking about Chris’s shoes? Or how Chris was good boyfriend material?

It settled into him as subtlety as a piano falling off the roof in an old Road Runner cartoon. It wasn’t the shoes, or the dating potential that had him fascinated. It was Chris. Silly, adorable, incredibly kind and considerate Chris. Single, bisexual, older man Chris.

JC was in love. With Chris. And he had no idea how it had happened or what to do about it.

**

Soundcheck was disastrous. JC couldn’t keep his eyes off of Chris, and the other guys weren’t helping.

“JC, answer that one!” Joey demanded, bounding over to where JC sat on an amp.

“What?” Distracted, he tried to smile, not knowing which direction the question had come from.

A young woman off to the right repeated the question for him. “Do you guys ever fight over space on the buses?”

JC glared at Joey, who only grinned back at him wickedly. “Um, yeah, you know, it’s just tight quarters. Like, Justin gets really pissed off when Chris leaves his sneakers all over the place, you know? But we’ve been doing this so long that we’re just kind of used to being up in each others’ space. It’s not bad.”

It wasn’t, really. They had their arguments, some of them knock-down drag outs, but usually it was nice. Seeing Chris right when he woke up in the morning, or listening to him hum as he got ready for bed; it was those little things, really. He thought about how Chris would lounge out in the back playing video games, so relaxed and happy. He smiled at the mental image.

Lance stopped walking around the stage, and stood directly in front of JC. He flipped off his mic, then reached for JC’s and hit the power button there too. “What’s going on?”

“What?” JC tried his best to look completely innocent.

“You’re acting very, very weird. Weird to the point that people are noticing.” He cocked his head slightly toward the exit to the back of the stage, where two of the PR guys were clearly watching them carefully. JC rolled his eyes and looked away.

“Seriously, C.” Lance was blocking his exit. “You’re all mopey and sitting there with this stupid look on your face. Snap out of it.”

“I wish I could. I don’t really know what’s going on, but.” He watched Chris dance across the stage with Justin and sighed. “I can’t seem to help it.”

Lance tried to figure out what had JC so preoccupied, but all he saw was Justin and Chris being idiots again. “Are they bugging you? Cause you can ride with us tomorrow if you need some down time.”

“No!” JC answered, a little too forcefully. “No, it’s fine, really. I’m just tired. I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.” Lance slowly stepped away. “But you’ve got to snap out of it.”

“Right, right. Snapping out.” He got up slowly. “I’ll be better, really.”

But he wasn’t.

In the show that night, he got caught up watching Chris strip off his shirt, and tangled his arm in his own costume. The band had to vamp an extra eight bars while he got straightened out and into position. The audience didn’t notice, but Justin glared at him every time they swapped positions on stage.

He turned on the autopilot and tried to block everything out.

What was he going to do?

**

Justin wasn’t talking to him after the show, which was incredibly dumb and immature, but JC couldn’t handle having it out just then. He was exhausted and heartbroken because Chris had chosen to go clubbing with the other guys instead of taking him up on his offer to go back to the hotel and hang out.

They put him into a car to go back to the hotel, where the crowds had dramatically diminished. He supposed most of the fans were still at the arena. When he got out, there were only a few people waiting for autographs, which he begrudgingly signed.

When most of the girls were gone, one figure caught his eye. It was the girl from the night before, standing off to the right.

“Hi,” he said, keeping a distance. “You’re back.”

“You remember me?” Tears swam in her pretty eyes, which held such hope before turning dark. “Well you’re too late. How’s your love life, JC?”

Puzzled, he turned his attention fully to her. “What?”

“I told you you’d know how it felt! I hope you’re suffering! I hope you can’t sleep, can’t eat, can’t do anything because you know that you’ll never be loved back! Do you get it now, how I feel? Do you understand?”

Security caught the girl by the arms, and escorted her away. The other fans in the group stood frozen, unsure of what to do next. JC swallowed, and quickly signed a few more papers before almost running into the hotel.

Do you get it now? He heard the girl’s voice in his head, echoing. Oh, he got it. Big time.

**

Lance showed up at his room early the next morning, like a goddamned dog with a bone. Luckily, he also brought an entire pot of coffee and muffins. JC dug in ravenously, realizing he hadn’t eaten since before the show the night before.

“You look like shit.” Lance, never one to beat around the bush, pulled back the curtains to let it the early morning sun. JC caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror over the dresser and cringed.

“Want to really tell me what’s going on this time?”

JC sighed. “I was up all night last night trying to figure it out. Don’t laugh, okay?”

Lance just stared at him with those freaky green eyes. JC couldn’t believe he was about to admit this.

“I think I’m cursed.”

Lance tried very valiantly not to laugh, biting his lip, face tight to keep from smiling. “You’re cursed.”

“It’s fucking crazy, right? But there was this girl the other night, and she said stuff, she was so mad, and then she was there again last night, and asked if I got it now, and I just. I think she cursed me.”

It sounded just as ridiculous now as it had the night before, when he’d been pacing around the hotel room trying to get Chris out of his head.

Chris. Just the thought of him made JC’s stomach go spinning, and he had to sit down.

Lance was still trying not to laugh, and JC actually felt bad for him. “Go ahead, laugh. It’s funny. I know it sounds crazy.”

“No, no, it’s not crazy, it’s just. You think you’re cursed because you messed up one show? I mean, I screw up stage directions on a regular basis. What does that mean, I’m frequently cursed?

Oh, God, he was going to have to actually explain this. “It’s not that. I mean, that’s a part of it, but that’s not the curse. It’s kind of a byproduct, and probably unintentional, come to think of it, considering the girl was a fan. I think.”

“JC,” Lance leaned back in the chair and drummed his fingers on the arm. “Rambling.”

“Right, okay. It’s just. This girl was all like ‘I love you,’ you know, nothing unusual. But I had to go, and she said someday I’d see what it was like to love someone like that, and then, well. The next person I talked to, I just. Wow. It’s like, I can’t even wrap my mind around it, but it’s everything from the movies, you know? Heart beating faster when you’re in the same room, can’t get it off my mind.”

“So you were cursed to fall in love with someone?” Lance didn’t look quite so amused any more. “Well, that would explain the weirdness yesterday. But what’s the big deal? Unless. It’s not Timberlake, is it? Please tell me you’re not in love with Justin Timberlake.”

“No, it’s not. That would be, well, easier, cause he’s so damn straight that it wouldn’t even be a possibility and I could just, like, admire. No, it’s. It’s worse, because we’re both single, and together, and swinging in the same direction, and just.” He paused and looked up at Lance. “It’s Chris. I’m in love with Chris.”

Lance at least let JC bury his head into a pillow before bursting out in a boisterous laugh. JC only groaned and climbed back under the covers.

What the fuck was he going to do?

**

Avoidance was the first plan he came up with. It might have been a good plan if they weren’t living in each others’ pockets while on tour. He took Lance up on the offer to ride on their bus, giving him a few days reprieve. Lance and Joey didn’t complain when he all but moved in for a few nights, but it was got old having to come up with excuses every day.

It didn’t work, though. They took a limo dinner back to the hotel a few nights later, and JC slid down the bench, pressed tight against Chris. He couldn’t get his legs straight with the crush of people in a car designed for high school proms, not seven fully-grown men. He thought meanly that Steve and the tour guy should have had to ride up front. He tried to stretch again.

“Stop it,” Joey complained, shoving JC over into Chris.

He couldn’t help it. Chris just smelled so good, all spicy woods cologne, the same stuff he’d been wearing forever, and JC just kind of leaned in and sniffed. Chris smelled amazing, wonderful… delicious. He wished he could taste.

Chris pulled back and stared. “Dude. Are you smelling me?”

“No.” JC felt the blush rising and sat back in his minuscule section of seat. “No.”

Chris kept an eye on him for the rest of the trip, and JC tried not to be aroused by the fact that their legs were still pressed closely together.

**

He couldn’t eat. JC stared at the eggs on his plate at breakfast, pushing them back and forth. He wondered when Chris would get up. He hoped that he’d wear the tan shirt. Chris looked awesome in the tan Fuman shirt, the one with the darker sleeves.

Disgusted with himself, JC shoved the plate of eggs away. Avoidance wasn’t working. He’d just have to play it cool. Right. Reaching for his coffee, he grimaced and added more sugar. He could do cool.

He looked up to see Justin, Joey, and Lance staring at him strangely.

“You told them!” JC hissed at Lance.

“Don’t be mad,” Justin said in his ‘I’m helpful!’ voice, leaning in so the handlers for the day wouldn’t hear them. “We were worried about you and just. It’s a little weird.”

“You’re telling me.” With a sigh, JC stirred his coffee listlessly. “I don’t know what to say, man. It’s not like I had any control over it.”

Joey at least looked sympathetic. Justin took it to the extreme, and JC started to worry about being committed. Lance still looked amused.

They all shut up fast enough when Chris showed up. JC moved over to make room and motioned for Chris to sit beside him, committed to stop avoiding and just be cool.

“Why’s everyone staring at me?” Chris asked after a minute of nothing but still looks from across the table. Everyone’s eyes darted to JC, who blushed again.

“They’re just being weird,” he mumbled, reaching for the cream, and promptly spilled coffee all over the table when he caught his sleeve on the handle. So much for playing it cool.

**

He saw Justin and Joey talking to Chris backstage in the quiet room that night, murmuring in the corner so softly that he couldn’t hear the words. He didn’t need to. The way that Chris turned and stared at him with such bewilderment told him everything. JC couldn’t stay there.

He ran.

Stupid curse. Stupid, stupid love curse that made him all funny and weird and not able to be around one of his best friends. It had only been a couple of days, but he missed Chris. He couldn’t talk to him, couldn’t even be near him without his tongue getting all funny in his mouth and his heart beating overtime.

He wanted to go back to the way things were, when Chris could sit next to him and bitch about Justin’s neurotic behavior or the ridiculous Velcro burns on his arm from Joey’s malicious prank the night before. He just wanted everything to be normal again.

He wandered the back halls of the venue, trying to stay out of the way of the crew, just lost among the workers. Eventually, Chris caught up with him, cornering him in a dead end. Sighing, JC stopped pacing on the ramp to a closed loading dock and leaned against the rail.

“Hey,” Chris said, and at least he wasn’t mocking. “You look really freaked.”

“I am.”

“So, ah. Lance says that you’ve been cursed and you’re in love with me.” Chris’s forehead was furrowed in concentration, his fingers fidgety and tapping on his leg.

“It’s not. I mean. I’m not, like, actually in love with you. I’m cursed. Some girl was all ‘I love you,’ and I just brushed it off, but she cursed me to fall in love with someone and yeah. I’m cursed and it’s you, and I’m sorry it’s making things weird.”

Chris just stared at him, and he was taking this incredibly well. “Okay, um. I guess I’m flattered? I mean, you actually love me, you’re not just lusting after my incredibly hot bod.”

“Oh there’s that too,” and it just spilled out of his mouth before JC could think to stop it, and he wished instantly that he could take it back because Chris’s eyes lit up, and he started to sing the chorus line of ‘Let’s Get it On.’

“No,” JC said, a little too forcefully because Chris quit singing immediately. “No, I mean. I know this isn’t real, as much as it’s messing with my head, and just. It wouldn’t be a good idea. I just need to try to do everything as normal as possible for now. Maybe the curse’s got like, and expiration date and this will all just be a bad dream in a few weeks.”

“Okay, yeah. But if you want to do something about it in the mean time…” Chris started humming again as he wandered away.

**

JC got back on his own bus that night, desperate for his own bed and his own things. The whole situation just sucked, and he didn’t even care that Chris knew and it was horribly embarrassing. He found a six pack of beer in the fridge and started wallowing.

Justin still didn’t believe that this wasn’t an elaborate hoax, so he put in his headphones and hid in the back. JC was left up front with Chris and the television. He sat awkwardly on the couch across the aisle from Chris and tried not to peel the label off of the bottle.

“C.” Chris was staring at him, making him squirm. “Seriously.”

“I can’t help it! You think I asked for this? You think I really want to be sitting here thinking about coming over there and sitting next you, stretching out on the seat behind you?” The blush that rose to Chris’s ears was incredibly satisfying at that, even as JC felt a wave of guilt about embarrassing his one true love.

“I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here,” Chris finally admitted. “You gotta admit, this is a little out there.”

“Yeah.” JC sighed dejectedly. Chris would never love him back, and his heart was doomed to be broken forever. It didn’t make sense, logically, the weight that pressed down on his chest thinking about it.

Chris bit his lip and bounced his foot nervously. “Look, like. Just as a favor, because I know you’re all fucked up over this, but. Do you want to sit over here?”

It might make things worse, but JC couldn’t resist. Masochistic as it was, he slid across the aisle and settled between Chris and the side of the bench. When Chris lifted an arm, JC tucked himself underneath it and leaned against Chris’s warm side. His legs were sprawled across the aisle, and it wasn’t exactly comfortable, but for the first time in days he felt content in his own skin.

**

It probably would have been okay, if it had just been that one time. But Chris kept offering more favors- hold his hand on a car ride, have dinner with him and talk about the song JC was writing, watch a movie late at night while the bus flew across the prairie. It was a great temporary fix. JC was eating again, and was back to his old self on stage.

But late at night, when they’d gone back to their separate beds, his stomach still twisted in knots. He’d wake up with bags under his eyes, ducking his head in embarrassment when the other guys stared at him or when he yawned during sound checks. It was still there.

**

Two weeks after being cursed, Lance knocked on JC’s hotel door and walked in carrying his laptop. He hooked it up to the internet cable in the room and sat JC down at the desk.

“Read,” he said, click on a web link.

JC stared at the garish title graphic- VooDoo for the Common Man. “Lance, man, I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“We’re not making VooDoo dolls, though I’d love to do one of Wade out of principal. No, here.” He pointed to the section about reversing spells.

To reverse any love spell, write your name and the name of your bewitched lover on the side of a white candle. On a night of the Waning Moon, anoint the candle with myrrh oil, light the candle, and recite a chant reversing the love spell. Burn the entire candle. Let the remaining wax cool and harden. Wrap the leftover wax in white cloth, tie with a white ribbon, and toss into a body of water.

JC studied the instructions carefully. “Okay. What’s a waning moon?”

“It’s any time between the full moon and the new moon. There’s a full moon next week, so any time after that.”

Hope sprung up in JC’s heart. “So if we do all this, the curse could be lifted by the end of next week?” He clicked closed the internet window and opened the tour schedule file that he knew Lance kept on his desktop. “And Chicago’s next week- pretty big body of water there.”

“Exactly. I’ll see if someone can get us the candle and the oil. It’s probably better coming from me. They already think you’re pretty crazy.” Lance snapped the laptop stuck and tucked it under his arm.

JC twisted to look at him. “How come you don’t?”

Lance just shrugged. “I do, sort of. But you’re really not that good of an actor, and you’ve been pretty convincing.”

JC let the insult slide off. “I’m sorry I’m screwing up the tour.”

“It’s cool. I mean, Joe’s all busy being Mr. Family Man, and Justin’s all damaged. I think, I mean. I have a feeling that things are gonna change after this, you know? I just want things to get back to normal. Even if it takes a little black magic to get us there.”

JC smiled at him as he left, and got ready to go out for the night. The clubs would be hitting the high point of the evening, and he felt like dancing.

**

When he got back, Chris was waiting for him in his room. He tossed the key on the dresser and asked “How did you get in here?”

“I told them you had my Game Boy.”

JC sank to the bed and stared. “So you lied to sit alone in my room?” He was sweaty from dancing, smelling of smoke and sweat. JC pulled on his shirt, wondering if Chris would think it was too forward to strip.

That was a tactic hadn’t tried- seduction. It just seemed shady, like he was using Chris to solve this weird curse thing, but at the same time…

JC stood up and stretched, watching as Chris’s eyes went straight to the strip of stomach that appeared. Bingo.

Slowly, he let his arms fall and fixed his gaze on Chris. “You know,” he said slowly, “it’s been someplace close to a millennium since I got laid.”

“It’s been a thousand years since you had sex?” Chris smirked and stood, taking a step toward JC. He looked like he was on the prowl. JC’s heart fluttered and his pants grew noticeably tighter.

“Two months is close to a millennium isn’t it?” JC closed the distance between them and slowly pushed Chris back onto the bed, climbing up above him.

“Close enough. So you know, if you need some help with that.” Chris’s voice trailed off as JC’s mouth lowered to his.

When their lips touched, JC forgot about the rest of the world and focused only on the man beneath him. His mouth opened, and Chris’s tongue surged forward to taste. He welcomed the feeling, amazed that Chris was so into this.

Then again, it was sex, which was almost never a bad thing.

JC slid his hand up Chris’s side, ruching up his shirt to reveal hot skin beneath. Chris was soft in all the right places, and JC couldn’t help but bend to taste. He kissed the curve of Chris’s hip, the dent between muscles as he tasted sweat and spice. Sitting up, he pulled his own shirt over his head, and tugged the material up Chris’s arms until they were both bare to the waist.

Breathing heavy, he kissed Chris’s mouth again, letting his tongue dance playfully. He couldn’t focus on one area- there was too much skin to explore. He softly mouthed Chris’s bicep before settled on a nipple, licking it carefully. His teeth closed around the point gently, then bit firmly with the hiss and curse that Chris let slid.

“Fuck,” he moaned, reaching for JC. They kissed again, with more heat this time, noses crushed as JC settled his weight more fully onto Chris’s body.

“Pants, off,” Chris commanded. JC pulled back reluctantly and reached for his belt as Chris toyed with a nipple. He watched Chris as he pulled down his jeans, kicking them off into the corner. Chris lifted his hips helpful when JC turned to him.

Thick and ready, Chris’s cock leaked against his stomach. JC bent to taste, taking only the tip in his mouth. It dripped salty into his mouth, and JC swallowed, only more turned on by the taste. He bobbed his head a little more, letting his hands slid down in time with Chris’s groans. He sucked hard a couple of times before letting Chris’s dick fall free. Chris’s eyes opened in disappointment, until he realized where JC’s hands had moved.

“This?” he asked, teasing Chris’s hole with the tip of a finger. Chris’s furious nodding was his only answer, so JC knelt and used his mouth to loosen things up, tongue darting furiously in a preview of what was to come. Chris’s heels dug into the bed as JC replaced his tongue with a finger, letting it slide into the warm heat of Chris’s body.

He twisted and turned, hoping Chris liked things the same way he did, finding that spot that he knew spent sparks flying everywhere. He must have hit it, because Chris bucked up off the bed and nearly kicked him in the head.

“Fuck!” He opened his eyes, almost black with arousal. “You are really fucking good at that, so. More please.”

With a smile, JC went back to it, this time using two fingers and a squirt of lube. He watched as Chris’s chest flushed with arousal, the way sweat beaded at his forehead. With his free hand, he took Chris’s cock, stroking fast, squeezing hard, watching as the man he loved reached the pinnacle of arousal.

“Fuck me,” he pleaded, and JC had never heard sweeter words. He stepped back and wiped his hands on the spread. Kneeling up on the bed between Chris’s spread legs, he took a minutes to press down without entering, taking both of their cocks in his hand. The friction was delirious, so much that he couldn’t imagine it getting any better.

It took less than ten seconds to get the condom open and on.

“Ready?” he asked, spreading more lube on his cock and on Chris.

“Hell, yeah.”

JC slid in slowly, sinking into the warm, tight, tight grip. Chris grimaced and ground his teeth together as his body stretched to accommodate. JC saw the pain in his face and paused.

“You okay?” he asked, holding Chris’s leg up with one hand while the other guided his cock.

Chris’s clenched muscles slowly relaxed and his face calmed. “Yeah. Just. Slow.” His head fell back and he groaned again when JC thrust forward.

“So tight,” JC murmured as he sank all the way in and leaned down for a kiss. He stayed there, barely moving, until Chris seemed to adjust. He was almost virgin-tight, and it was driving JC crazy. With small thrusts, he began to build a rhythm, hooking Chris’s leg over his shoulder so that he could stroke Chris’s cock with the same movements.

It wasn’t the usual frantic fucking that JC had with guys and girls on the road. Chris was panting and groaning, and JC couldn’t help but bend down and kiss Chris, mouth open and sloppy and everything perfect.

He felt the release building inside of him, and doubled his efforts on Chris, watching to watch him come. He tightened his grip and sped his strokes until Chris broke away from the kiss to cry out with relief.

He thrust a few more times, shuddering as the orgasm built and exploded. He closed his eyes and felt the love and lust rock together.

“Damn,” Chris said, reaching up to pull JC down for a kiss. “Remind me to do you favors more often.”

**

Suddenly, it wasn’t so bad being in love. Chris was in his bed, talking to him, and it was everything that JC had ever wanted.

The only reason his heart still ached was because he knew it wasn’t real.

“What’s wrong?” Chris asked, leaning over his shoulder as JC read through the instructions for the reversal spell one more time.

“Nothing. Lance got the stuff to get rid of the curse, so I should be out of your hair by the end of the week.” He turned and kissed Chris lightly. “You’ve been really good about this.”

“What, you being in love with me? It’s kinda nice to be worshipped, you know? Since the rest of the world hasn’t realized that I’m the hottest thing on the planet yet.”

JC smiled and closed the computer. “We’ve got some time before we have to go, right?”

Chris was already getting naked. They fucked up against the wall, and it wasn’t even a turn-off when Chris started humming while his hands on JC’s ass urged him.

**

Justin invited him to work out together a couple of days later. They hadn’t done that much lately, not like the old days where they took turns spotting every day on a tour. He watched as Justin pressed heavier and heavier weights, watching the strain on his face.

“Are you okay?” he asked finally, as Justin mopped his brow with a towel.

“Yeah, why?”

“I dunno, you just seem. I mean. I know you’re hurting and everything, but I’m a little worried about you.”

Justin didn’t smile they way he did when he was fronting. Instead he took a long draw from his water bottle. “Honestly? I feel like my world’s been thrown off its axel, and I don’t know how to stand on this new rotation. Like my center of gravity’s changed. And the worst thing is that as much as I hate her for everything that she did, there’s a part of me that thinks we’re still gonna end up together some day.”

“I’m sorry man. I know I’ve said it before, but I really am sorry that happened to you.” JC’s heart went out to his friend. He’d seen him nursing broken hearts since Justin was only a kid, but this one, the first real one, always hurt the most.

“It’s not your fault.” Justin turned on the treadmill and started to run. “Anyway, I’m a little worried about you, man. You still think you’re cursed?”

JC stepped onto the machine next to Justin and set the intensity. “I know you think I’m crazy, but it’s true. But I think things will be better soon.”

He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

**

The night of the ritual was a driving night, so JC rode with Joey and Lance again. He felt weird doing the anti-love-spell around Chris.

“You’ve got all the stuff?” They sat across from each other at the table, and JC slowly carved Chris’s name onto the small white candle.

“Do you think I should use JC or Joshua?” he asked, turning the candle to the other side.

“Probably JC. That’s what the girl who cursed you called you, right?” Lance held the words JC had written out that morning, reading through them again. “What are you gonna do if this doesn’t work?”

JC hadn’t mentioned to the other guys that Chris had been sleeping with him out of pity for the past few days. It just made him feel incredibly pathetic. “I dunno. I guess all my eggs are in this basket, so if it doesn’t work, well. There are worse things, right? It’s not like I grew a third leg or something.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “You ready, then?”

JC placed the candle on a small plate and pulled out the lighter. “Let’s pray there are no potholes between here and there.” The smell of the oil filled the bus as he dropped it slowly onto the wax. He flicked the wheel and let the wick catch flame.

“This is to break the unrequited love spell cast by the young woman in Houston. I have learned how painful it is to yearn for what can never by mine. I care for Chris deeply, but we are never meant to be in love.” He thought about how good Chris had been to him through the whole ordeal. “Let the spell be broken.”

They watched the candle burn down to a pool of wax. Eventually Joey came out to watch them as they sat and waited.

“You really think this is going to work?” Joey asked, still skeptical. JC only shrugged.

“Did you ever think that maybe this wasn’t a curse? That you actually were in love with him and this whole thing is just an excuse not to deal with it?”

“Joey,” Lance started, but JC held up a hand to cut him off.

“It wasn’t real, Joe. You don’t just wake up one day and realize you’re in love with someone. I mean, Chris is a great guy, but. It’s not real.” He should have been grateful for that, but it tugged at his heart a little bit. The last week had been a glimpse into what could never be.

Joey didn’t say anything else, only watched them sit by the candle until it burned out.

Just before dawn, the bus pulled up to the Navy Pier in Chicago. JC walked the deserted promenade to the end before tossing the wax wrapped in paper into the water. It was done.

They checked into the hotel early on, and Chris followed JC to his room. “So, how long does it take to kick in?” he asked.

“I dunno. I don’t feel any different yet.” JC dropped his bags and stumbled backward as Chris jumped him.

“Good,” he said between kisses, tugging JC’s jacket open. “One more time, then.”

 

**

JC woke a few hours later and rolled over to see Chris had taken up most of the bed again. He nudged him back, a wasted effort. Chris was dead weight when he slept.

Giving up, he trudged into the bathroom and started to brush his teeth. He saw the scars on his forearm and remembered everything.

It was over. He wasn’t in love with Chris anymore. Things could get back to normal.

He was almost reluctant to leave, given how well things had been going. Good sex, he thought. Great sex. He turned on the shower and stripped out of the shorts he’d slept in. The idea of being single again wasn’t quite so appealing.

The shower water was hot enough to scald, and he drowned himself in the steam. He let his mind drift toward the future, one that seemed much vaguer now than it had the previous morning.

He heard Chris stumbling around and hurried to finish his shower. He was just wrapping a towel around his waist when Chris walked in, totally naked.

“My turn,” he said, pushing by JC and turning the shower on again. Over the noise of the water, he groaned. “Damn, that’s hot.”

“Yeah, ah.” JC gathered up his stuff and held it protectively against his chest. “I guess I’ll see you later, then.”

Chris stuck his head out from behind the curtain. “What?” Water dripped down his beard and onto the floor in twin rivers.

“I’m gonna take off.” JC opened the door, and cold air streamed in.

“Wait, where are you going? This is your room.”

Oh yeah. JC paused not really knowing what to say. “I just. The curse’s lifted, so I figured I’d get out of your hair.”

“C.” Chris shook his head, a stupid grin on his face. “Seriously. You can drop the whole curse thing. I get it, you love me. I’m kind of moving that way myself.”

“It’s not a thing. It was real, and it’s over, and I should get back to my own room.”

Chris jumped out of the tub to catch him, grabbing his arm, dripping all over the floor. “JC. What kind of game are you playing here?”

Confused, JC paused in the doorway. He watched as the air conditioning raised goosebumps on Chris’s arm. “I’m not playing anything, I just. You were really nice to humor me and everything, and you know, I owe you like, a car or something, but.”

“But?” Chris tightened his grip, stepping closer. JC’s grip tightened on the towel as Chris pressed against him. His heart thundered in his chest. “Game over,” Chris said. “You don’t need to pretend to be cursed to be here. I get it, you love me. I’ve kinda come around to the same opinion of you.”

JC wanted to protest that he hadn’t been pretending, but Chris was leaning up to kiss him, and something inside him didn’t allow coherent thought as he bent down to receive. He wasn’t supposed to be in love with Chris any more, but this. It felt exactly the same.

“Wait.” He broke the kiss, dropped his stuff, and put his hands on Chris’s shoulders, holding him back so that he could look him in the eye. “I wasn’t kidding. I was cursed. That girl in Houston cursed me. But I’m not cursed anymore. So this is me, now. Just me.”

“Whatever,” Chris said, hands reaching for JC’s towel. “ ‘Just you’ needs to get into the shower with me.”

No curse, JC thought as he followed Chris into the spray. Chris tasted exactly the same as before, caused that same flutter in his stomach when he touched JC’s side. It was like nothing had happened, and JC realized why. Sometime while he’d been cursed with being in love with Chris, he’d actually fallen in love with Chris. And Chris had said that he’d come around to the same.

Someday, JC thought, as Chris’s soapy hands traveled down his body, he’d find a way to convince Chris that it was true. Or maybe not—maybe having Chris think that he was conniving instead of crazy wasn’t a bad thing. Still, the truth would probably come out eventually. And if it took a long, long while, well. JC figured they had the time.


End file.
